Malaysia among fastest-growing exporters to China on Alibaba’s platform

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is among the fastest-growing exporters to China on Tmall Global, the cross-border platform of Alibaba, last year.

According to the 2017 Tmall Global Annual Consumers Report, Malaysia ranked seventh after niche countries such as Greece, Chile, Poland, Hungary, Spain, Brazil, Austria, Israel and Denmark, measured by year-on-year growth.

The biggest group of Chinese purchasers of imported products from these countries were those born in the 1990s, accounting for nearly 50 per cent of the total number of Tmall Global users and contributing nearly 40 per cent of total sales.

“The three major motivations for this group to buy imported products are trying new things, aspiring to own luxury items and ageing anxiety.

“The most popular Malaysian product categories are foodstuff, coffee and mother and baby products such as baby strollers and prams,” it said.

Tmall Global has maintained its position as the largest business-to-consumer ecommerce platform for imported products in China, with a market share of 27.6 per cent in the fourth quarter last year.

There was still a huge untapped potential in the sector, with an annual growth of 20 per cent in transaction volume and a market scale of 20 billion yuan (RM12.35 billion) by next year, said the report.

Tmall Global also hosted more than 16,400 brands from 68 countries on its platform last year, a 13 per cent rise from 2016.

Its penetration rate, calculated as a ratio of Tmall Global users to Alibaba’s total number of users, increased nationwide, showing that more people can now afford imported products.

Between 2015 and last year, the total number of Tmall Global customers had tripled, with 30 per cent of them spending more on the platform.

Consumption upgrade would continue to be key for the Tmall Global’s growth and in China, it said.